Hurt
by ABCSonicKirbyWarriors
Summary: When Sonic and friends land on Mobius,one thing after another happens. When they meet Fauna, a young fox who has seen many horrors and knows more then she seems to, Chaos prevails. My first story, hope you like it! Rated T, just in case. R and R, please! ...Will not be OC X canon
1. A Rough Landing

Sonic looked at the trees without really seeing them. _So much has happened since we got back to Mobius_, he mused. It had been one year since he and his friends had come home and defeated the Metarex. Cream was 7, Cheese was, well, he had no clue, Tails was 9, Amy was 13, Blaze was 15, he thought Silver was also 15, he himself was 16, Knuckles was 17, Rouge was 19, and who knew how old Shadow was. The Blue Typhoon had crash-landed when he and the others had finished a wild goose chase for the Chaos Emeralds and come back successful, with the help of Blaze and Silver, who had appeared halfway through their journey. Tails' good piloting skills had saved them from much injury; however, they were in a part of Mobius that they had never been around before.

When Sonic was done thinking to himself, he turned around and ran back to the place where Tails was doing repairs on the Blue Typhoon while the others did who-knows-what. The blue hedgehog chuckled when he saw Shadow trying to steer clear of a very angry Knuckles.

"Hey Shads, what didya do to make him so mad?" Sonic yelled at Shadow. Shadow glared at him (oh, how he hated that nickname), then turned around and dodged a punch from Knuckles.

"I called the Master Emerald a hunk of rock, and he charged me!" Shadow yelled back.

"Well, that's what you get for calling the Master Emerald that! Maybe next time you won't be so quick to belittle everything you walk past!" Knuckles growled as he skidded to a stop.

Suddenly Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow were all aware of something. Sonic, who had realized what that 'something' was first, whipped around to see Tails, Amy, Cream, Cheese, Rouge, Silver, and Blaze staring at the three of them rather strangely. All 10 of the Mobians eyed each other in silence before Tails finally broke the silence.

"Now that _that's_ over, I would like to tell you guys that strange Chaos Energy readings have been found by the Blue Typhoon, which I fixed. Who wants to check it out?"

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**This is my first story. I can tell that you probably found this boring, but don't worry! I'll probably get better with time! :) R and R, please! **


	2. What to do

Aboard the Blue Typhoon, Tails cast a glance or two at the Chaos Energy scanner, but he was mostly talking to Sonic, Cream, and Cheese concerning what the source of the energy could be. "Mr. Tails, could it somehow be a Chaos Emerald?" Cream asked anxiously. "Chao Chao!" agreed Cheese. "No, Cream, I don't think so," replied Tails;"after all, we have all seven right here." "Tails is right," Sonic murmured." Maybe it could be something else. A fake Chaos Emerald? Maybe, but…. we had strange energy readings when we first found Shadow." Sonic trailed off. Cream, Cheese, and Tails looked at him for a second, and then laughed." That's not something _you_ do often, Sonic!" Tails exclaimed in between laughs. Sonic's face went red with embarrassment." DANG IT ALL!"

When the Blue Typhoon landed (safely this time), Silver and Knuckles were the first to stick their heads out the door. They were followed by Blaze and Tails, who were in turn followed by Sonic, Shadow, Rouge, Amy, Cream, and Cheese. "Where are we?" Knuckles questioned." I don't know," Blaze said. Tails then called for everyone's attention, which, to his surprise, actually worked.

"As you know, there have been strange energy readings from this area. It could be helpful or it could be dangerous-which is why we need to find out what this _thing_ is. I say we split up and go in different directions. Shadow, you go west. Rouge, East. Knuckles, North. Sonic, South. Silver, northwest. Blaze, southwest. Amy, you go southeast-and don't even think about trying to find Sonic-", Amy pouted at this bit, "and that leaves me, Cream, and Cheese to go northeast. Any questions?"

Knuckles grumbled, "How come you're telling us what to do?" Tails sighed and told the red echidna that it was quicker that way. Sonic raised his hand, while at the same time saying, "Since when are you so good at giving orders?" Everyone, with the exception of Shadow, laughed. Then, everyone went their way.

Despite Tails' orders, Amy found Sonic. That didn't go too well, but since Sonic had been, well, about to freak out due to the facts that he was scared of water and that he was stomach deep in a swamp filled with quicksand, Amy's presence was_ almost_ appreciated. Key word _almost_.

Knuckles wasn't very successful. After roaming for at least an hour and seeing no sign of anything that could've caused the energy readings, he found his way to the Blue Typhoon.

Shadow and Rouge had nothing going on really, so they both returned to the Blue Typhoon.(Shadow made sure he got there before Rouge so he could hide from her, seeing how _annoying_ she was.)

Silver nearly got frightened to death by a snake which bit him. He returned to the BT worrying about poisoned bites.

Blaze: See Shadow and Rouge.

With Tails, Cream, and Cheese, things were not going so well. Going northeast turned out to be a mistake. They were in a thick forest and the ground was nearly covered with bushes. Navigating without the Blue Typhoon was a bit harder, and they were _tired_. In fact, they were so desperate for a little luck that they split up among themselves, after Tails told the young rabbit and Chao pair to be careful.

Tails looked at the Chaos energy scanner on his wrist. _I'm getting close_, he realized. _I had better be careful._ All of a sudden, he heard a rustling in the bushes. "Wh-What was t-that?" The rustling came again._ Hope the wildlife around here isn't too hostile, _he thought. Suddenly, he sensed something small and orangish, the same fur color as him, charge him. "What the-"he began. Tails buckled as it hit him, knocking the breath out of him.

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**Hope you liked that! I tried to make it longer, for all you guys. What is the orange thing?! How are Cream, Cheese, and the others? What's been causing those weird energy readings? Why do I ask so many questions? Find out in the next chapter!**

**Sonic: R and R, please!**

**Shadow: Do I have to do this? (deep breath) Theauthorownsnoneofthecharactersexceptfortheonewho you'llmeetinthenextchapterandit'sa**_**Good**_**thingthatsheforgottomakemedothisinthefirstchapter! **

**Blaze: You didn't need to go THAT far. You only needed to say she owned nothing.**

**Me: LOLLOLLOL-Don't look at me like that!ANYWAYS….DO WHAT SONIC SAID!**


	3. Found

Tails stared at his attacker, unable to register what had just happened. The _thing_ that had attacked him was slightly younger than him and definitely female. She was the same shade of orange-yellow that Tails was. Her muzzle, chest, stomach, and tail tip were white, as were her gloves. Her large, blue eyes harbored hostility and-_fear?_,Tails thought. Her strapped dress went down to her knees, and the design on it was blue and orange squiggly stripes. Her sandals were made of tree bark, and a gray jetpack was strapped to her back in the same manner as a book bag. A necklace with some sort of gem as a pendant hung around her neck. But the thing that shocked Tails the most was that she was a _fox_. Sure, a fox that was slightly smaller than him, but still, a fox! It had been so long since he had seen a Mobian of his own kind.

The fox struck again, but this time Tails dodged. _Why is she attacking me? I've got to find out!_, Tails brooded, dodging and avoiding the younger fox the whole time. "Why are you attacking me? I've done nothing to you!" Tails exclaimed. "Get away from here! I won't let you hurt me or this place!" the other fox cried." I won't hurt you! Just look at the state you're in…. you need medical care." Tails said with concern. "You won't hurt me? I'd like to trust you, but can I?" the fox said, looking up at Tails with a hint of suspicion. _Hey, I was like that when Sonic found me. I wanted to trust him, but I didn't know if I could_, Tails thought." I won't hurt you, and I'm trustworthy. Now, follow me!"

Back at the Blue Typhoon, everyone else waited for Tails. They had not found the source of the Chaos Energy. Rouge was staring at the scanner. She suddenly cried," Oh my gosh!" Whatever Rouge had seen on the scanner had made her upset enough to take off but stay about a foot off the ground. "What's wrong, Rouge?" Amy asked. "The Chaos Energy is _moving_!" Rouge stammered. "_What?_" Everyone else was up on their feet at once. "What, the source of the energy just got up and walked away?" Shadow said sarcastically. "Maybe", Sonic said. "...What?" Shadow said, looking at Sonic with confusion. "No, I'm serious," Sonic said. "What if that thing is really someone with powers like yours?" "It's possible," Silver said, and Blaze nodded with agreement." But then where's Tails?" Cream worried. "Chao Chao…" Cheese said.

Tails had found that it would be easier to get back to the Blue Typhoon if he and the younger fox rested before heading back._ Hope they're not worried._ "So, what's your name, and how old are you?" Tails asked the fox. "Fauna, Fauna the Fox. I'm 8. And you are…?" "Miles Prower, but call me Tails. It's what everyone calls me." Tails blushed when Fauna said the name was fitting._ Why am I _blushing_? _Tails thought. _Everyone says that!_ He looked up and realized the sun was beating down on him. _Ok, that makes sense._ "Tell me a little bit about yourself", Tails prompted. Fauna's eyes clouded with sadness. "Can we talk about that later?'' she said, her voice small. ''I'm sorry if I upset you," Tails said. "To make you feel better…want to hear about my past?" Fauna looked up at him with interest. Tails assumed that was a 'yes' and began his story.

"When I was a little kid, a lot of guys made fun of me 'cause of my twin tails," Tails began. "One day, this kid who I remember as being really mean pushed me into the lake. Luckily, Sonic was around. He thought there were two people in there! You know, because I have two tails and they were the only part of me above water?" Fauna laughed, quietly. ''Yeah…I like to tease Sonic about that one! Anyway, he pulled me out and left me to get dry. And a few hours later, he caught me working on his plane. Hoping not to get caught, I explained how much I like machines and how good I was with them- and then I told him about how cool I thought he was, how I wanted to be his friend. I was scared he would laugh and tease me like everyone else did, but he said he could use a mechanical genius and a friend. I and he have been best friends ever since."

"I've heard of Sonic," Fauna said.

"Yep, he's pretty cool," Tails replied. "On with the story. I met everyone else later. Amy Rose, or Amy, was-and still is- obsessed with Sonic. I mean, every like, 30 seconds she runs up to Sonic and well, she always runs up and hugs Sonic whenever he rescues her!" Fauna giggled again. "Yeah… you probably know what I think of her. But she's a pretty good friend to have on your side. And Knuckles can be _stubborn_. I mean, yeah, he needs to guard the Master Emerald and all that stuff, but I think he contradicts Sonic for the fun of it sometimes! Sometimes, I want to roll my eyes at him. I'm not that mean, but everyone else actually does roll their eyes at him. 'Everyone else' being Shadow, Rouge, Cream, Cheese, Silver, and Blaze. They're nice, except for Rouge and Shadow, but even _they're_ not that bad. But Rouge is a pain when she talks about jewelry, and Shadow can be pretty volatile sometimes, but that isn't always the case," Tails finished. "Oh, and I've got a question. Why are you so quiet?"

Fauna gave him a sideways glance. "If you want to survive in the wild, that's got to become a habit. There's all sorts of things lurking around here," she said, still speaking softly.

"Time to head back," Tails said, getting up. Fauna got up too, and nodded. She let Tails take the lead to the Blue Typhoon and followed him.

"Where _is_ Tails?! I'm starting to get worried!" Sonic exclaimed. "Aren't we all?!" Cream, Cheese and Amy all snapped back. Everyone-_everyone _including Shadow- stared at the three in shock. Amy could be like that, but Cream and Cheese? NO. She had to be really worried or angry to snap like that. _She must be really worried about Tails_; Sonic thought .An opening door snapped him out of his thoughts. "Tails! You're OK!" he said, considerably relieved.

Shadow frowned." Yes, but who's that with him?"

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**Three chapters in one day!? I'm CRAZY! Anyways….DUN DUN DUN! Find out what happens next chapter. And... I kept my promise! I always do.**

**Blaze: You didn't answer WHY you asked so many questions.**

**Me: Hush, just do your thing.**

**Blaze:Fine! ****R and R!**

**Cream: ABCSonicKirbyWarriors owns nothing except the story and Fauna!**

**Cheese:Chao Chao!**

**Fauna: Are you calling me her PROPERTY!?**

**Cream and Cheese: No…**

**Me: LOL. Do what Blaze said.**


	4. Trouble Brews

Tails went into a protective fighting stance. "Her name is Fauna. Fauna the Fox. And there is _no way_ that I will let you force her out, not in the state she's in now!" The two-tailed fox glared at everyone inside the Blue Typhoon, waiting for them to object. But the only response came from Sonic. "Well, Tails," he said, smiling, "you've finally become a big brother."

Sonic's words struck Tails like a Chaos Spear. Did he mean Tails… had moved on from him? That, now that he had taken Fauna in; he didn't _need_ to be with Sonic anymore? The thought was daunting. But somehow, it didn't scare him as much as he thought it would.

Later, after Fauna had had had a glass of water and some mango slices from the area Tails had found (she said she was rather fond of mangoes), Tails had offered her a tour of the Blue Typhoon, and she had happily agreed. "Those are the controls," Tails said, "that's the Sonic Power Cannon, and that's…" Tails continued the tour as so. When he finished, he made Fauna take a nap, seeing how she was struggling to stay on her feet.

When Tails rounded a corner, he was met with Shadow, Knuckles, and Rouge, and none of them looked too happy. Tails sweatdropped." Uhh… what's up?" he asked nervously. "You will push her out. _NOW_," Shadow said, holding a scary-looking gun in his hand. Rouge and Knuckles looked ready to back him up. A rush of defiance went through Tails. "_No_!" he hissed furiously. "You can shoot me, but she's staying!"

Shadow smirked. "You asked for it. But you at least deserve to know why she can't stay."

"Why _can't_ she stay?" Tails snarled.

Rouge answered his question. "She is the source of that Chaos energy. And she is not 100% on our side."

"Are you saying she's _dangerous_!?" Tails exclaimed, looking each of them in the face. "She's done _nothing_!"

"And that's where you're wrong," Knuckles said. "She can do things with Chaos Energy that equal, if not exceed, Shadow's abilities." Tails stared at all of them. Knuckles wasn't lying, given the way Shadow looked a little sulky when he said that. But he couldn't say that.

"You're lying," he stammered.

"You had one chance." Shadow said smoothly. Knuckles took a step back, looking somewhat horrified. Tails braced himself, and almost as soon as he heard the bang, he felt the breath knocked out of him for the second time that day. But the pain… it stung- his ribs were on fire. Tails decided to go down fighting. He grabbed Shadow's leg and didn't let go.

"Shadow, I trusted you… as an ally, maybe even a friend…and you do this. Everyone else… won't forgive you for this, Shadow the Hedgehog!" Tails twisted Shadow's leg, hard. Just as the black hedgehog pulled free, Tails blacked out.

To say Knuckles was horrified was an understatement. He'd had no idea… he would actually do something like that! He glanced at Rouge. Though not reacting as badly, he could see that she was surprised. He watched, shocked, as Tails bled and Shadow stood over, looking kind of grim. _Enough is enough_, he decided._ Maybe Fauna _is_ on our side._ When Shadow turned to leave, Knuckles barred his way.

"You had no right to shoot Tails!" he yelled.

"I've done worse, and besides, I didn't shoot to kill him," Shadow replied smoothly, grabbing Rouge and dodging the Guardian._ He's just going to leave Tails there to rot!_ Knuckles realized. _I've got to tell the others!_ He ran to the room where Sonic, Amy, Cream, Cheese, Blaze, and Silver were.

Silver noticed Knuckles burst into the room, panting. "Hey Knucklehead, what's so urgent?" Sonic asked. Knuckles eyes were wide. "Shadow…h-he shot Tails!" All 7 people were on their feet at once. _"WHAT_!?" they cried in shock. "He wouldn't do that…. would he?" Silver said, but his voice wavered. Knuckles nodded grimly. "He wouldn't, but he did." He motioned for them to follow, and he led them all to the room/corner where it had all happened. There was dead silence for a moment. Then, Cream and Cheese darted forward. "_TAILS!"_

Fauna woke up from the nightmare she had. She tried to forget and regain her bearings. She was in one of the Blue Typhoon's bedrooms. But she sensed something. _There's nobody here. Th-there's n-nobody here!_ Fauna sweatdropped. Fear swallowed her up as it once had. Suddenly, a black-and-red figure with red eyes stepped out of the shadows. _Shadow! What does he want with me?_ The black hedgehog smirked, and the young fox gulped when she saw a gun in his hand. "Time to say goodbye."

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**This was fun to write. I am keen on getting this finished, aren't I? Don't worry, I won't give you any spoilers on whether Tails is OK or not. (Hint: I'm a Tails fan.)**

**Silver: R and R, please!**

**Blaze: I thought that was my job.**

**Sonic: No, mine.**

**Shadow: (deep breath)T-H-E-A-U-T-H-O-R-O-W-N-S-N-O-T-H-I-N-G-E-X -C-E-P-T-F-O-R-T-H-E-S-T-O-R-Y-A-N-D- T-H-A-T-C-U-R-S-E-D-F-A-U-N-A-**

**Blaze, Silver, Sonic, Fauna, Cream, Cheese, Amy, Knuckles, Tails, Rouge, and me: SHADOW!**

**Me: (sweatdrop) eheh, eheh…anyway... DO WHAT SILVER SAID OR ELSE! (Yeah, yeah, I know blackmailing is a bad thing, but whatevah.)**


	5. A Rude Awakening

Blaze felt the lump in her throat growing as she gazed at Tails, unconscious and bleeding from his chest, and the young rabbit girl crying next to him. The purple cat glanced at Silver, who was next to Sonic. Silver was trembling; Sonic looked ready to cry. Blaze stifled a gasp- crying just wasn't in Sonic. "Is Tails _dead_?" Amy choked out. Knuckles shook his head. "He's pretty close to it, though," he warned. "But why…" Blaze trailed off, but Knuckles must have known what she was going to say. "Fauna the Fox has a deadly secret," Knuckles whispered grimly. "And Shadow knows it."

"Can I take care of him?" Cream cried. "I guess so," Sonic said, in a voice that was rather quiet for him. "Nothing's stopping you," Silver encouraged. "Nothing except me, Cream. I'm going to help you." Amy said. Something had been bothering Blaze the whole time. Now she realized what it was. "_Where's Rouge_?"

Fauna took a step back. "What do you want from me?" she squeaked. Shadow stepped forward. "You can't stay here," he rumbled. "You're too dangerous."

"I don't want to leave! It's scary out there." Fauna whimpered. Shadow, who did not like being tested, leapt and did a round of Chaos Spears, deciding they were more dangerous than the gun he had just dropped. Instead of dodging, the young fox did something strange. Instead of dodging, she said softly"Chaos Absorb! Please work," she added. The move seemed to work; the spears were drawn to the gem fragment on her neck. Shadow wasn't dumb; he immediately inferred that the gem on her necklace was a Chaos Emerald… but somehow it was a little small and irregularly shaped for that description. Besides, they already _had_ all seven Chaos emeralds, right?

The gem on Fauna's neck glowed, and the jetpack quietly came to life. In a second she had taken off and was hovering. Shadow, also hovering, stared at her. Fauna did a Roundhouse Kick. She stayed there, but a thin, glowing crescent of Chaos Energy sliced through the air. Shadow snapped out of it and dodged just in time. Rouge appeared out of nowhere. Taking off, she Screw Kicked the young fox, who dodged and did a Front Kick. This time, a comet of energy surged from her foot and flew through the air, narrowly missing the white bat.

Tails had come to much sooner than everyone thought he would. "Wh-where am I?" he moaned, not feeling so good. "Tails, you're awake!" Cream shouted and hugged Tails, but gently (Which is more than you can say, Amy). "Shadow shot you, didn't he?" she questioned, a glint of anger in her eyes. Tails nodded. "Where is everyone?'' he asked. Cream giggled. "Look up," she suggested. Looking up, Tails felt rather silly. Standing right above him was everyone, save Shadow, Rouge, and Fauna. Sonic was the first to speak. "How are ya feeling, bro?"

Bro. He remembered when Sonic had hinted that Tails would eventually become independent of him. Tails smiled. That wasn't going to happen anytime soon! "I'm alright. But I've got to say, Shadow has _good_ aim." Sonic winced at that bit. "Just wait 'til I get my hands on him," Sonic growled. "Th-that won't be necessary!" Tails wailed. "He was doing it for a reason."

Amy looked confused. "He was? What was it?" Tails' eyes darkened. "I'll tell you later. Right now, I need to check on Fauna." Suddenly, the sounds of a fight could be heard in the room where Fauna had been sleeping. Tails exchanged a horrified glance with everyone else. "WHAT'S GOING ON!?"

"What did I tell you?" Shadow hissed. "You're too dangerous."

"Like dirt I am!" Fauna did another kick that was so well-aimed and quick, even Shadow couldn't dodge it. She smiled as she watched him writhe in pain for a moment before getting up, but her smile faded as she realized what exactly he was maybe about to do. "CHAOS-'' _Uh oh. Better get my Blast Shield ready- and hope it works._"- BLAST!" Rouge took off until she was high enough to avert any danger towards herself; Fauna rushed to the door to keep the blast from going to the rest of the Blue Typhoon. The blast calmed down as it penetrated the shield and she absorbed the Chaos Energy. She then deactivated her Blast Shield. Shadow stared at her in shock; just _who was this kid_!?

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**It's called maybe don't attack a kid, Shadow. Yay, Tails is OK. And if you've watched **_**Kirby: Right Back at Ya!**_**, I based Fauna's attack off Knuckle Joe and added a few Chaos Energy-related things.**

**Tails: R…and R….please. (collapses)**

**Cream: I thought you were better from the gun wound. Shadow…**

**Shadow :(**_** gulp**_**- WHY AM I SCARED OF A SIX-YEAR-OLD!?) The author owns none of the characters except Fauna and only owns the story.**

**Fauna:(pounces on Shadow from behind)**

**Shadow : AH! Get. Off!**

**Me : Do what Tails said.**


	6. Solved-for Now

Tails ran like he never had, followed by Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Silver, Blaze, Cream, and Cheese. He burst through the doorway where Fauna had been sleeping and saw her hovering in the air fighting Shadow, who was also hovering. The room was far from intact, and the same could be said about Rouge, who was on the floor and barely conscious. Tails was tired from running, but as soon as he glanced at the two fighting Mobians, he felt a rush of fury and he forgot his tiredness. "Shadow, Fauna, _WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING_!?" he grumbled. "This had _better_ not be about how Fauna can't stay!"

Shadow flashed Tails a contemptuous look. "She can't," he stated simply. "And I've already told you why." he dodged an attack from the now-ticked Fauna. Everyone who had followed Tails, with the exception of Knuckles, turned to Tails in astonishment. "He _has_?" they breathed. Tails nodded. "But I didn't believe him!" he wailed. Sonic put a hand on Tails' shoulder, trying to comfort the young kitsune. "Don't worry; it'll work out somehow," he reassured him. Tails nodded softly. "Well, anyways, what did he say about her?" Silver asked, changing the subject while not changing the subject. Knuckles flinched. Blaze glanced at him. "Are you OK?" she asked. Knuckles nodded.

"She apparently has powers that are almost as dangerous as Shadow's." Tails shouted. "You expect me to believe that!?" Cream spoke up. "No, Mr. Tails!" Amy agreed. "That _is_ fancy, but what's Fauna doing then?"

"You'd better believe it! She survived a Chaos Blast-in fact, she turned on this shield thingy and blocked it off from the rest of the ship." Fauna and Shadow had ceased fighting, which Tails liked; however, they were both glaring at Rouge. Sonic, the light-hearted one in any situation, chuckled. "Great minds think alike, no?" They turned their glare to Sonic, who sweatdropped. Tails gulped. "It's true, then? No way..." Fauna looked at him with a sad look and did something unexpected. She rushed over to him, and stood behind him, looking sad, angry and upset at the same time. "W-what's wrong, Miss Fauna?" Cream cried, looking rather upset as well. Fauna didn't respond; Tails looked at her in surprise.

Shadow looked at her. "Well, have you had enough, or-" Silver glared at him, an action that was so rare for him that even Shadow was caught off guard. He got the message without anyone needing to say a word. _Back off, Shadow. She's only eight and who knows what she's been through._

Tails looked confused. "Why…how…" he was interrupted before he could string his thoughts together properly. "I'll tell you how…later," Fauna said. "How… it all started." Tails stared down at the quivering lump of orange fur. Fighting furiously one minute, breaking down the next. _Why?_

After Fauna had calmed down, she was tired enough to sleep, so everyone left her to it. Knuckles, Silver, and Rouge had told Shadow off rather severely(ahem, "told off" meaning cornering Shadow and yelling at him.) Sonic chuckled softly when he heard some of the words in the reprimanding being, but not limited to: twig-brain, idiot, rash, moron, emo, annoying, etc. (Remember guys, this is Knuckles and Rouge we're talking about. XD.) Silver did not say _any_ of that, to his credit, but he did tell Shadow off in his own way. Surprisingly, Shadow didn't just shrug it off. He was sulking for a very long time after after that.

Fauna bolted up, panting. She could still see the horrible flames, the dark energy, as it killed everyone she cared about. Her family, her friends, _Lily_…gone… the nightmare had plagued her since who-knows-when. She took the gem on her neck in her hands and stared at it for a long moment. _So many memories…bad ones…can I afford to keep it? And, if I do... what will become of me? _Shadow had scared her so much when she had first met him. He looked so much like her tormentor. Wait a minute… hadn't Tails told her something- like fighting _him_? _Yes! I can tell them, and they can help me get revenge on him!_ Feeling much happier than when she woke up, Fauna went back to sleep. Her nightmare didn't plague her again.

Meanwhile, Tails was worrying. Worrying about this newcomer, worrying about her history, her allegiance, her importance, her powers… almost everything. And why did that gem on her neck glow whenever she attacked? He decided that a little fresh air would do him good. After all, that always worked with Sonic. He went outside and almost gaped before he got a hold of himself. It was _beautiful_. The trees were lush and green. The blue sky sharply contrasted against the green leaves. The grass was soft, and the flowers were vibrant and colorful. Suddenly, he heard a _whoosh_. Tails froze. Sure enough, he saw something, but it wasn't blue, so it wasn't Sonic. The blur had no traces of red, so it wasn't Shadow._Could it be…no._ Tails stopped himself from panicking. It wasn't who he thought it was, right? The one he had in mind had been defeated long ago. But he could always come back… right? Suddenly not minding the pretty landscape, Tails turned around and got inside the Blue Typhoon as fast as he could.

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**DUN DUN DUN. Can you guess who Tails and Fauna are afraid of? They fear the same person/thing, and I really hate **_**him**_**. That's your hint. Who is Lily? You'll find out later. Oh, and for some reason indents are weirding out on me, so sorry for no indents.**

**Cream: None of us are owned by ABCSonicKirbyWarriors except for Miss Fauna and Miss Lily, and the story of course. R and R, please!**

**Marine: You never gave me a chance to speak, Cream-mate!**

**Cream: Since when are you here?**


	7. How It All Began

**Uh, hi. There are a few thing I need to tell y'all. First, I just drew awesome Manic and Super Sonic pictures on paper! Too bad you'll never see them. Second, I will be in India for 2 months. Wonderful, polluted India with almost no computers. So, I won't be able to update. Sorry...please understand.**

* * *

Fauna found herself looking at Tails worriedly. She had reason to be worried about him. Ever since he had come back inside, he had looked to be several things. Bewildered, haunted, a little angry, and... scared. _Why is he scared?_ She wondered._ Maybe he saw something outside?_ She decided to find out why.

"Tails, did you see anything daunting outside?" she asked him. Tails looked at her. "Daunting…that's a good word, and no, I'm fine." Knowing when to keep going and when to stop doing something, Fauna decided to leave it at that. She had just walked a little ways when Cream ran up to her, excited pleading in her eyes. Fauna had a pretty good idea what was coming. "Miss Fauna, can you tell us your story now? _Please_?" Fauna sighed. "Do I have a choice? And who's 'us'?"

Cream pointed. Fauna looked in the direction the rabbit was pointing and felt shock flash through her when she saw Shadow, Knuckles, Sonic, Amy, Rouge, Tails, Silver, and Blaze. "Uhh... forget I asked.

When Cream and Cheese had finally convinced Fauna to come to her room to tell about her life leading up to the present, she started. Fauna took a deep breath before beginning. "I…I've lived around here my whole life. There weren't too many people around here. In fact the only people I knew well were my parents, a cat named Lily, and her parents. Lily and I were really good friends… and she was the one who helped me find _this_," she said, motioning to the gem on her neck. Shadow immediately interrupted. "Sorry to interrupt you and all that, but what is that thing? Is it a Chaos Emerald? Or is it something else?"

Fauna scowled in annoyance. "I'll get to that. Continuing from where I was, we were playing near a tiny stream that got formed by the rain, when Lily found something shiny. My father, a Freedom Fighter, had told us both about the Chaos Emeralds, so they were something of a legend to us. I suggested that the shiny thing was a Chaos Emerald, and Lily, being slightly older than me and knowing about this kind of stuff, agreed. We were just deciding to give it to my father when…" Fauna's voice cracked a little. "When _he _arrived."

"Who's 'he'?" Tails asked. No longer on her guard, Fauna didn't show any sign of annoyance. "I presume you've met him before," she said, held-back tears in her eyes. "He… is Mephiles the Dark."

Everyone flinched. _Everyone_. Looking most frightened were Shadow, Rouge, Sonic, Blaze, and Silver. And they had good reason to be frightened.

"I-I thought he was dead!" Shadow hissed.

Fauna shook her head. "What told you that? You destroyed Solaris as a whole, but Iblis and Mephiles as individuals survived. I still remember it, even though it was years ago...The sky turning black, a glowing creature in the sky, Solaris, and three people, all glowing golden, fighting him and winning. And now I know who those three people were." Fauna looked at Sonic, Shadow, and Silver. They nodded, confirming her guess.

"Speaking of surviving as individuals, we all know that Mephiles is alive and hiding somewhere, but where did Iblis go?"Knuckles pondered aloud, looking right at Fauna. Blaze gulped.

"What?" Tails looked at her. "Do you know where he is?"

Blaze nodded, failing, for the first time in her life, to hide her fear. " Iblis...lies in slumber right before you."

Everyone just stared at Blaze, Silver exempt, seeing as he already knew about this. " You're saying...he lies within you?" Sonic looked like he'd been told he was a crook. Everyone just kept looking at her in shock. "No..._way_..." Fauna looked horrified. Raising her voice, she added, " You know what would happen if Mephiles captured you, right?"

Amy did not like the dark turn the conversation was taking. " Uh, Fauna, what happened after Mephiles came?" she asked, changing the subject.

"He'd come for the Chaos Emerald. My father had taught me a few things, and since I had a Chaos Emerald in my hands at that moment, I used it. But he was too powerful. Our parents came out and try to stop him…" her voice choked up again. "He…killed them all! He didn't even make their death fast! He made it slow and painful…and tied me to a tree, made me watch! And he saved Lily for last! You probably have no idea… I had to watch them all die and I couldn't do _anything_!" she cried. She had stood up, her voice had risen to a pained yell, and her cheeks glistened with tears. Everyone was staring at her with a mix of shock and sympathy.

"Calm down, Fauna," Amy soothed. "That must have been _awful_. If Sonic died I'd feel just as awful... Oh, Sonic," she trailed off, looking dreamy. Sonic sweatdropped while scooting away from Amy and closer to Tails and Silver.

Fauna had sat down again, looking more subdued. "'Mephiles' took the Chaos Emerald and shattered it. He spared me, saying I might be useful in the future, and then left. When he left, I took the larger shard and tied it around my neck. I promised myself that I would avenge their death, since I couldn't help them then..."

"That was the worst day of my life. After that, I lived a pretty solitary life. You know, staking a little bit of land for yourself, making sure you can eat and drink, keeping out intruders, that stuff. But I couldn't stop thinking about Mephiles and the way he murdered everyone I knew. So I tried out some stuff with Chaos Energy on certain things using the shard so that I wouldn't meet the same fate."

Silver cut in with a question. "Anything else?"

Fauna nodded. "Quite a bit, actually. I think you know quite a few of the people I met. The Chaotix aren't too far from here actually. It was a stupid decision that Vector made, putting their HQ right in the middle of a swamp!" She snorted. "They'd fall apart without Espio to put some sense in them once in a while."

Sonic chuckled. "So true."

Fauna continued the story. "Sonic, I'm pretty sure you'll like what I have to say now. Got any siblings?" The question made Sonic about 10 times more alert-it was Fauna's turn to chuckle. "Thought you'd do that. Manic and Sonia were around and told me to say hi to you in case you dropped by. You did just that-and literally. You dropped from the sky."

Everyone but Shadow and Sonic himself laughed at the shocked expression on the cobalt hedgehog's face. "T-they were here? _Way past cool_!"

Once the initial amusement passed, everyone (except Knuckles, of course) stared at Sonic. Tails, again, broke the silence. "You have...siblings?"

Sonic looked uncomfortable. "Uhh.. why not?"

Shadow snorted. " If they are half as annoying as Sonic, I don't want to meet them."

"_Hey!_"

"They aren't bad at all...nothing like Sonic, actually..." Knuckles said nervously.

Fauna went on with the story. "This might sound kind of weird, seeing as there is not too much water here, but I've met Marine the Ring-Tailed Raccoon. She came here to get spare parts for a ship and she got lost. She's really nice, actually. She and Cream both," she added, looking at the blushing rabbit girl with a smile. "You are, too," Tails pointed out. Fauna glanced at him. "I hope you don't mean it in _that_ way...," she said teasingly. Tails blushed. Knuckles fell on the floor laughing. Amy, Blaze, and Rouge laughed. Silver and Sonic smiled. Even Shadow had a ghost of a smirk on his muzzle.

Blaze looked at Fauna with some confusion. " I wonder how she got here. She hails from the same dimension as me."

Fauna shrugged. "Oh well. I forgot to mention that, though. She did say something like that."

Silver's ear twitched. "I think I heard something," he said. _Something like the wind, but yet not quite..._"I'm gonna check it out," he told Blaze. He walked out of the room and through the Blue Typhoon's hallways to where the noise was coming from-the storage room. When he zoned in on the reedy sound, he could hear it under some boxes. They looked rather heavy, so lifting them wasn't an option. He concentrated on the boxes and tried to move them up with his will, trying to use his psychokinetic powers… only to find they didn't work._ WHAT THE!?_ Silver could feel the panic but he pushed it down. Instinctively, he looked at his gloves and gasped. The usually teal-blue markings…were now red. On both sides. Overcome by panic, Silver was not on his guard. Meaning he panicked all over again when something grabbed his chest fur and tossed him into the boxes _hard_, knocking him out cold.

Shadow stood up slowly, deep in thought._ No wonder the fox was so scared when she saw me. She must have thought I was Mephiles. And maybe I should check on Silver._ As soon as the idea was in his head, a frightened yell came from the storage room and a loud _thud_ could be heard. _I have a bad feeling this has to do with Silver…_

Shadow skated towards the storage room, half-heartedly noticing that Fauna and Blaze were trying to keep pace with him. As they approached the room, Shadow could see the pale hedgehog lying unconscious next to some toppled boxes. When he got closer, three things became painfully obvious. First, the way his chest fur was pointed. Almost as if someone had grabbed him by it. Second, the bite in his leg. And third, the red markings on his gloves that replaced the blue ones.

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**I know, I know. "Why are you picking on Silver!?" Well, he'll be fine in the end. And he's not the only one who'll suffer. (insert evil laugh here.) Also, there might not be MS Word here, but I'm jumping at the chance to update my chapters. I mean, I JUST noticed how much I've been leaving out. And I was on the Sonic Wiki reading about Marine and then I was like, "OMG! I FORGOT THE DIFFERENT DIMENSION PART!" I hope you like the updated chapters. Guests can also review, just to let you know…..Bye!**


	8. Here One Second, Gone the Next

**A/N: OMG I AM SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT! I was on a vacation to India, and there's almost no Wi-Fi and DEFINITELY no MS Word, so updating was out of the question. However, I updated every chapter when I got the chance, starting from Chapter 1, so go read them if you haven't already. WAIT READ THIS CHAPTER FIRST!**

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Fauna's terrified gaze traveled from the bite on Silver's leg to the blue-turned-red markings on his gloves and bands.

"That's…t-that's a…_that's a_…"

"That's a _what _? Stop blabbering and tell us what you're talking about," Shadow said impatiently, walking towards Silver. Blaze was already there, taking Silver's pulse. As he neared, he could hear Blaze heaving a relieved sigh. Silver was alive, assuming from Blaze's reaction, but as Shadow eyed the red markings, he couldn't help but wonder. _What are those red markings? More importantly, why are they there? _ He looked back and saw everyone else was at the door, their expressions ranging from mildly curious from worried to scared.

"No wait!" Fauna ran and caught up to him, crouching and examining the bite on Silver's leg. When she looked up, her eyes were filled with dread. "I'm not completely sure, but I think… it's a snake bite."

Shadow would have facepalmed if his head wasn't sore from colliding into a tree (don't ask how.) "It's a snake bite. So….?"

"So…it's not a normal snake bite. I think…" her voice went very small. "I think it's a _Mystic Black Snake_ bite."

"Which does what?" A voice suddenly asked from behind Fauna. She jumped about a foot into the air. "Whooooaaa!" She turned around and saw Tails. "Don'teverdothatagainyouscaredmeoutofmy_wits_!" she said, panting.

"Sorry," Tails said. Fauna stopped panting and gave him an annoyed glance. "Like I was saying, the Mystic Black Snake is one of the rarest, most ancient snakes on Mobius. No one knows its exact history, but the general pass-off is this: these snakes existed a very, very long time ago, even before the time of kings, when everyone had one power or another that kept them alive. They were just normal, scary looking snakes back then. But then…" Fauna paused, and looked at everyone around her, then at Silver, who hadn't regained consciousness yet.

"Then what?" Sonic interrupted the silence.

"A certain man-no one knows his name till date-lured all the Mystic Blacks to one spot with their only weakness-also unknown- and, uh, did something to them. He mutated them, using only the limited chemicals they had back then, so that they grew larger fangs and venom sacks. The venom, once it was injected into someone..." her voice grew even smaller." It made them lose their powers."

A collective silence fell over the group. Fauna could tell that everyone was horrified. She wasn't going to hide it, either. She was horrified as well. _To think there was one here…I never even KNEW…_ She shuddered. Regaining her composure, Fauna took a deep breath and continued speaking. "The powers don't go just like that. They flicker on and off-before they completely _go away_."

Dead silence. Then, "How do you know all this?'' Blaze, from where she was next to the still unconscious Silver, was looking at Fauna in shock, though everyone could see a bit of sadness in her eyes-just a little. But it was there, and in strong, unwavering Blaze, that was a bad sign.

Fauna scuffled her feet nervously and looked at the floor, not quite sure how to respond. "Uh…I naturally just know a lot about animals, but this place is actually rumored to be _the_ place where the mutated snakes come from. If you don't believe me," she looked around for a second. "Is there a computer onboard?"

Tails ran out of the room suddenly. "Hey, um, Tails!" Sonic called after him.

"I'll be back!" Tails voice grew softer as he ran farther. In a few minutes, he was back carrying an open laptop. Amy looked at him incredulously. "Is that safe?"

Tails shrugged, and Googled 'Mystic Black Snake'. Everyone crowded around the screen, and they were considerably surprised by what they found.

"Only one search result?" Tails squinted at the screen. There was only one result for 'Mystic Black Snake'. "'It's better than nothing," Sonic pointed out.

Tails shrugged, and clicked on the link. A website with a smoky black and pale teal border and background came up. There was a picture of a smoky black snake with a stripe that went from its nose to its tail, and the stripe was the same dull teal. Just looking at the color scheme of both the background and the snake was enough to make everyone shudder. It reminded them of a certain someone…

"What's with the background's color scheme? It looks like…" Fauna trailed off in the middle of her complaint. Black and teal was her least favorite color scene, no prizes for guessing why.

"Mephiles?'' Knuckles finished the sentence, giving her an understanding look. Fauna just nodded, not daring to take her eyes off the screen. Just below the picture of the snake, there was a long article in large, easy-to-read type. Everyone who could read the article in silence. Again, Tails spoke first.

"It's…it's just like she says it is!" Tails said, deeply disturbed. The article in itself was disquieting, but what was even creepier was the last sentence, which Sonic read aloud.

"The Mystic Black Snake is believed to share some sort of connection to the sun god, Solaris, in that when Solaris' half Mephiles, the pure cunning in Solaris, was resurrected he took on the same color scheme… Whoa, I think things just took a turn for the worse," he exclaimed when he had finished reading the sentence. "Still, I _was_ getting kinda bored just staying in one place…"

"Shut up." Shadow gave Sonic a death glare. Any other time, Sonic would have kept teasing Shadow, but he really just wasn't in the mood for a Chaos Spear, so he decided to kept quiet.

"Um…" A quiet voice brought everyone's attention from the laptop in front of Tails to Blaze, who was still sitting next to Silver, taking in what she heard. "What do we tell Silver when he wakes up?"

Sonic and everyone else exchanged glances. Then, Sonic just went to being straightforward. "Look," he said, sitting down next to Blaze so they were eye-to-eye, "there's nothing to hide. Just say it."

Sometime later, everyone was out of the storage room, idling around and waiting for news. Blaze, Amy, Cream and Cheese were in the Blue Typhoon's clinic, keeping an eye on Silver. Tails suddenly had an inkling that told him to go inside the clinic… "Guys, he's awake!"

"Urrr…" The silvery hedgehog had, indeed, finally regained consciousness. Tails, Amy, Blaze, and Cream were looking down at him with relief. "How do you feel, Silver?" Amy asked. "Like I've been run over by a train," Silver moaned, holding his head. "Where am I?"

Amy rolled her eyes, half-expecting that. "You're in the clinic room. You should be fine, Silver, apart from a few hits your quills couldn't absorb. You must have tripped into the boxes." What all four of them weren't expecting was Silver to pull himself up into a sitting position and look all four of them in the eye.

"No!" Silver protested. "I didn't trip! I remember it perfectly. I went into the storage room to investigate a soft, reedy kind of sound. The boxes were too heavy to lift, but my telekinesis didn't work when I tried to use it, and then something just grabbed me and threw me into the boxes."

Amy and Blaze exchanged glances, confronted with what Silver had just told them. Tails took a deep breath, knowing what he was going to do. "I'm going to tell him," he announced.

Amy looked at Silver, than at him, than back at Silver, then back at him. "Oh, I don't know if you should do that yet-"

Tails fixed her with a blue gaze that was piercing with all the anxiety and truth in it. "Amy, if I don't tell him now, someone will spill it sooner or later." Amy saw the sense in that and nodded. Meanwhile, Silver and Cream looked at Tails and Amy, one with confusion, the other with soft dread…

"No, I'll tell him." Blaze spoke up. Tails thought over this for a second before nodding and stepping back, giving Blaze ample room to explain. She took a deep breath before beginning.

"Silver, do you recall ever having being bitten by a snake?" The question served two purposes. First, it would confirm what everyone knew, and second, this was to introduce what had happened gradually. Silver looked down at his leg, and then nodded.

"Yes."

"Well, Silver, that snake was no ordinary one. It was a Mystic Black Snake."

Silver was getting curious now. What did that snake bite have to do with anything? Then, on a thought, he looked down at the markings on his gloves. They were still red. With a twinge of sadness, he realized that the reason his telekinesis hadn't worked when he'd tried to use it were the markings having changed color and it wouldn't work until they changed back to blue. Blaze seemed to have noticed Silver's actions, and continued.

"The only side effect of the venom…is that you lose your powers. They flicker on and off, and then go away. There is only one cure, and that worked several years ago, so no one quite knows what it is. It has something to do with the Chaos Emeralds and their energy," Blaze finished, anxiously looking at Silver and waiting for his reaction.

At this point, Silver was having trouble seeing straight. He felt as though all the life in him had been sucked away. He felt numb, and yet so pained. If he'd lost his telekinesis for good…it was a part of who he _was_! Silver was, in a literal sense, utterly powerless. He bent his head and rested it on his knees, while he hugged his legs.

"Blaze…how do you know this? How do you know this is the truth? How _can_ it be the truth?" Silver said softly. Blaze closed her eyes for a second, sharing her silver friend's pain, before opening them and speaking.

"Fauna told us this. We didn't believe her at first, but then Tails looked up 'Black Mystic Snake' on his laptop, and we found an article, so we know…it's true. I'm sorry, Silver."

Silver remained quiet for a few minutes. Then, for the first time, he spoke, looking Blaze in the eye. "Don't be. It's horrible to hear, but…" he sighed. "What's done is done. There's no reversing the effects. I guess I'll just have to live with it." And with that, he pushed his left hand into the cot and pivoted, jumping off and walking away, while Tails, Blaze, Cream, and Cheese watched with concern.

Sonic idly stood in one place, resisting the urge to yawn. He thought he'd heard Tails yell that Silver was awake, but then again, it could have been his bored-to-malfunctioning mind playing tricks with him. He'd spent the time listening to Knuckles and Rouge "discuss" (ahem, argue) everything that had happened so far-_ Wow, those two are real interesting to listen to, aren't they?_ - while Shadow, who was standing next to both of them, occasionally interrupted with a point of his own.

"Well, Knux, what makes _you_ so sure of that?"

"_You never make valid points!_ And also, Cream was crying before she went into the clinic room."

"Tell me you're joking!"

"I'm not."

"Well, than, I guess we'll have to ask the Master Emerald. What do you say, Knuckie?"

Shadow facepalmed, wincing to himself as his hand made contact with his sore head. Sonic couldn't help but chuckle. The older girl couldn't help but be the most amusing nuisance anyone ever met. Well, to Knuckles, the "amusing" part of amusing nuisance was exempt. Speaking of Knuckles…

"Rouge, that's gotta be the dumbest thing you've said this week, apart from 'Oh, Master Emerald! Once we get off this ship, you're mine, you green hot hunk!'"

"I never said that!" Rouge's muzzle flushed a bright red as she jumped into the air and attempted to Screw Kick Knuckles. She kept missing.

Sonic, try as he might, could not hold in his laughter. He fell on the ground laughing. Shadow smirked when he saw Rouge's reaction.

Sonic finally managed to stop laughing; however, he was starting to have a few problems with his breathing (which is what you get when you laugh so hard.) He had just gotten a hold of his dignity and gotten up when he noticed Silver walking out of the clinic, looking at the ground dejectedly. _They musta told him. _

"Hey, uh, Silver," Sonic said, walking up to him as everyone watched, "Are you feeling alright, bud?"

Silver looked up at him, and Sonic was taken away by how much sadness was in the silvery hedgehog's eyes. Then, slowly, he shook his head.

"Well, in that case, uh, come with me." Sonic had always, on a certain degree, been good at comforting, but he doubted Silver needed an optimistic, "It'll be alright!", well as it served its purpose when it needed to. Sonic led the way to one of his favorite spots to just sit down. It was located in the large corner in the hallways where everyone's rooms were. Sonic motioned for Silver to sit down, and then he seated himself next to Silver.

"So, Silver, they told you, didn't they?" Sonic said cautiously; After all, he didn't know how Silver might react. Silver didn't say anything. He just nodded.

"Well, Silver, try and cheer up just a little bit. I know it's hard but…your powers aren't gone for good yet! The only cure's something to do with Chaos energy? We have all seven Emeralds and the Master Emerald right here! Don't lose heart, Silver."

Silver looked at him for the first time since he had spoken, and Sonic could see doubt etched on his face. "We have all the Emeralds…but how do we use them? It's been at least 200 years since someone cured a Mystic Black bite, and I'm not sure making up Chaos-powered moves is a good idea."

Sonic sighed. "Silver, don't worry about it too much. Your powers are only flickering. You'll see, we'll find a way." Silver looked at him for another minute before getting up, and for a second Sonic doubted whether reassuring Silver like that was really wise. What if his powers never came back? One of his best friends would lose a part of his identity, and be forever changed for it.

_Well, then I hope his powers come back!_

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**A/N: Uh…I hope you like this chapter as much as I did typing it. I nearly got grounded typing so much. I crossed the 2,000-word mark! I'm trying to make the chapters longer and longer, and I like how that turns out. Be sure to check out my new cover image! A friend drew it for me. And once again, I apologize for the long wait.**

**Bye! –ABCSKW (Which shall be my fond nickname from now on LOL.)**


	9. Day One: A Tour of the Forest

**I don't think I've ever gotten so many threats for Silver's sake in my life. I feel like Taranea now (as in, when she made a blank page a chapter for April Fools and made everyone mad). XD**

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Fauna stared at her pillow. It was nighttime, but the dim light of the moon came in through a small window. It was late, but she couldn't sleep. Her mind was too full. Despite the general banter of the rest of the day, she was still deeply perturbed by the fact that an actual Mystic Black snake was lurking out there somewhere. Sure, this forest was where they originated, but they'd spread out since then, abandoning the place where they'd been created. She also felt sad for Silver. He had lost one of the most important things he had, and was feeling it badly. At the same time, Fauna couldn't help feeling a spark of happiness inside of her. She had finally found a friend.

It wasn't the noise that woke Tails. It was the silence. Yes, the large spaceship was normally quiet at night, but this was something else. There was silence, comforting, invisible and cloaking, like the night itself, and there was _silence_. The kind that wraps around you and tickles you in an unpleasant way with icy, hard fingers. That was the silence that woke him up. The fox looked around nervously. Apart from the normal stuff, there was nothing there. Or was there…?

He couldn't take it anymore. Throwing the covers off of him, Tails grabbed the flashlight near his bed and walked through the corridors and hallways, knowing them like he knew Sonic, until, at the front of the Typhoon, he found Shadow, standing next to the door, staring out the window next to it. _Knew I'd find you here._ He walked up quietly, being careful not to point the flashlight at Shadow, but the black hedgehog's ear twitched, and he turned around and looked at Tails.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" he muttered.

Tails paused, considering how to answer the question. "I could ask the same of you, couldn't I?"

Shadow shook his head. "I am the Ultimate Lifeform. I do not require sleep, though that does not mean I cannot sleep and is nice once in a while."

"Uh, right. But still, what are you doing here?" Tails wasn't surprised that Shadow was "guarding" the door, what with all the excitement of today. He himself had been worn down to the last fiber in him, but all of that had vanished, replaced with curiosity and something else.

"…" Shadow looked away for a second, scrutinizing his possible answers, before looking at Tails again.

"Oh…" Tails thought he understood. "You rather wouldn't tell, right?" He paused, reflecting on what he was going to say and feeling confused yet somewhat amused at the deep level his words would take. "Do you ever just think to yourself?" Noting Shadow's puzzled look, he went on. "Do you ever brood on your past? Does looking at the stars and the moon remind you of how complicating life can get, yet seems to remind you that some things always stay simple and never change?"

Shadow didn't say anything, but Tails thought he could detect a small nod in the flashlight's beam of light. "Hmph."

Despite the reply, the young fox smiled slightly, knowing he had struck home. Then, the smile wiped off his face as he realized just how tired he was. Shadow seemed to notice the drowsiness in his eyes, for he immediately said, "Go sleep." Tails was too tired to argue. As he trudged back to his room, nearly dropping the flashlight in his tiredness, he mused on their brief conversation. He nearly found it funny that he had never thought so deeply before. Yet, there was something comforting about thinking things out like that. As Tails slipped back under the blanket and closed his eyes, he failed to notice seven small wisps of light, each one a different color of the rainbow, dissolve into the window and come out on the other side.

Tails yawned and sat up in bed, not quite willing to open his eyes or do anything else. Slowly, he stretched his arms and tossed the blanket off of him. Then, he opened his eyes and looked at the digital alarm clock (which he'd forgotten to set) near his bed. And gasped. And jumped a foot into the air. And fell out of bed in a mangled heap.

"_Ten-thirty!? _"

Tails quickly smoothed his puffy fur down and ran to the room where everyone else was. "I'm sorry I'm up so late-"

Sonic took one look at him and immediately burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?' Tails asked, although he had a pretty good idea of just what was so funny. His fur was messy and flying in all directions. His two tails were equally messy and bent from his awkward position. His ears were flat. Of _course_ everyone was laughing at him.

"S-Sorry," Sonic said as he calmed down and a stray laugh or two escaped his mouth. "It's just that we were wondering when you were gonna wake up!"

"Sorry…" Tails gave everyone gathered there a sheepish glance. "I was just really tired from yesterday."

"Yeah, we know what happened last time Eggman woke you up early. You really got mad then!" Amy teased.

Tails blushed. "Don't remind me of what happened next."

Amy did just that, just to tease him. "Well, after that, Eggman sent a homing missile at you, you couldn't shake it, Sonic rescued you, finally finding his way back from Earth"- tears were visible in Amy's eyes as she recalled the moment she and Sonic had had together, but she quickly banished the tears and kept going. "Knuckles and Rouge finally snapped at each other and got into a fight, and then-"

"_That's enough_!" Tails yelled, giving her a look that said 'Shut up, already.' He then looked at Shadow, remembering their conversation last night. Shadow nodded; he remembered.

"Well, anyway, what'd I miss?"

In response to Tails' question, there was only silence. This made him uneasy. "I-Is there something wrong?"

Finally, Sonic shook his head. "There's nothing wrong, Tails. However," he pulled out something pale blue and glowing, "We found this in the engine room next to our pale blue emerald."

"Which one's the fake?" Tails asked.

Shadow stepped in. "So far, no one is able to tell the difference. The energy fields are identical, as is the shape, color, and texture."

Tails gawked at him. "No one?"

Sonic shook his head. "Nope. I don't even feel sick like I normally would if I was holding a fake."

By now, our young fox friend was starting to feel dizzy. _Not even Sonic can tell the difference? _

"If that was true, then we would have…eight Chaos Emeralds. Which isn't possible," Amy said, walking up to Sonic and snatching the emerald, despite the blue hedgehog's protesting "Hey!''

"Hmmm…" Amy turned the emerald, examining it closely. Then, she ran off.

"Wait!" Silver called after her. "Where are you going?" There was no response from Amy, but she came back in a few minutes, carrying two identical emeralds. Everyone's eyes widened at the similarity.

Amy looked down at the glowing pale blue emeralds. "They both feel…powerful. How are we ever going to tell them apart?"

Sonic shrugged. "Well, maybe we'll be able to find out tomorrow, but for now, I think we should go outside. Who wants to go on a tour, courtesy of our new friend?" he asked, looking at Fauna, who had been looking the 'Chaos Emeralds' in Amy's hands with interest but not saying anything. When Sonic mentioned the tour, she looked up at Sonic and pointed to herself. "Who, _me_?"

"Yes, you!"

"Oh, I don't know…"

"Oh, it'll be fun!" Cream said, looking up at Fauna pleadingly. "Chao ch-_chao_ !" Cheese agreed, fluttering around Fauna and tugging on her ears.

"Yeah," Amy said," you should. It'll help us when we want to go for a walk and not get lost."

Fauna looked to Silver and Blaze. They said nothing, they just nodded.

"Uh, OK."

And so, Fauna tentatively led them outside and into the forest-her home.

"OK, where to, Miss Tour Guide?" Tails questioned.

Fauna gave him a confused glance. "Miss?"

"What, do you want 'Mrs.' Instead?" Amy shot back. Fauna blushed, sweatdropped, and shook her head.

"Good, I thought so."

"Anyway," Fauna said quickly, "you all landed the Blue Typhoon about 15 or 20 yards from the nearest landmark, White Devil's Rock." She pointed to something in the distance. Tails could just make out a spot of white, but he couldn't really make out anything else. Before anyone could say anything he ran over to where it was.

"Tails, wait!" Everyone else ran after him. The rock was white and uneven, and about as big as a medium sized bush. "It's really big," Cream breathed. "Chao.." Cheese agreed, reaching out to touch the rock with his small arm. "Don't touch that," Fauna warned.

Cream looked at her. "Why not?"

"Get back into the thicker trees and you'll find out. Even better- if you can, climb a tree and be very quiet."

Everyone got back and watched the rock carefully. Soon enough, a creature appeared out of nowhere with a mouthful of purple flowers in its mouth, revealing itself to be a medium sized deer. Its pelt was a pale chestnut with white spots and a paler belly and legs. Everyone watched silently, captivated.

"It's beautiful…" Amy breathed, not taking her eyes off the deer.

"I wish it wasn't eating those flowers…" Cream sighed wistfully. After all, she was the one in the group who loved flowers.

"Hang on, what's it doing?" Silver whispered. The deer had now approached the rock and was now chewing the flowers while foaming at the mouth.

"Is it rabid? If it is, then keep it away from me," Rouge muttered.

"I hope it bites you," Knuckles hissed back.

Fauna shook her head and spoke, keeping her voice to a whisper and her eyes on the deer. "That's a fallow deer. This one's a doe, which is a female deer in deerspeak. Watch it closely, and you'll see why I didn't want you to touch the rock."

The doe now had foam on its mouth. As everyone watched, she spit the foam at the rock, leaving a purple mush behind. She spit again, and the stray foam on her mouth and the foam which had been left behind now came out and onto the rock. The foam was the same shade of white as the majority of the rock. Everyone now understood the white color of the rock.

"So…White Devil Rock's white because of all the deer spitting out that white stuff, right?" Amy asked softly.

Fauna shook her head. "Not just the deer-all the herbivorous animals. Those purple flowers in her mouth were poison."

Everyone just stared at her. "So…that doe's gonna die?" Knuckles asked softly.

Fauna shook her head again. "That's why she kept spitting out the foam in her mouth. That was the poison. And all the animals here have been spitting fatal poison on this rock for who knows how long…if you'd touched White Devil's Rock and then accidentally put your hand into your mouth…" her voice dropped even more. "It's never worth the risk. You could have easily ended up _dead_ ."

At this point, being told the world was going to blow up in 12 hours would have been less important for everyone, judging by their faces. A snap of twigs was what brought their attention to the doe. She was turning around and leaving. Everyone watched her run off, awestruck by her delicate beauty.

"You know," Rouge said, "she's almost as pretty as I am!"

Knuckles and Shadow exchanged glances and rolled their eyes, though everyone else shared the feeling.

About a mile northeast of the Blue Typhoon was the Dimondia River, a small yet long river that went through most of the continent. Its clear blue water rushed past, and the roaring of the current was audible, even from a fair distance. Sonic's closest friends couldn't help but laugh at Sonic's hesitance to get too close to the water. The blue hedgehog nearly drowned anyway. It was Knuckles who pulled him out.

"Mental note," Fauna muttered to herself as Knuckles pulled Sonic out of the water, "never get Sonic too close to the water; you don't want to have someone with hydrophobia to close to you."

Tails looked at her. "That was awful."

Fauna shrugged. "Sorry, couldn't help it."

"I don't get it," Sonic said, coughing and soaked. "What's wrong with having someone who's scared of water near you?"

Fauna snickered. "Hydrophobia is when rabid people start disliking, even fearing water due to their inability to swim at that stage. Basically, a nickname for rabies!"

Everyone stared at Sonic.

"…I am _not_ ! Rabid!"

"Oh, I don't know," Shadow said, smirking; this was the perfect opportunity to get back on the faker, "That sudden outburst proves otherwise…"

Knuckles snickered. _Maybe Shadow isn't so bad after all…_

Next, Fauna took them to a large patch of pretty purple flowers that smelled wonderful.

"They're really pretty!" Cream squeaked.

Fauna smiled. "Those are the flowers that Fallow doe ate-with the poison."

Cream's awed face disappeared and Fauna's smile wiped off.

After that, Fauna took them to a thicket-it was good for a change of scenery-, a certain area where the ground often gave way and you had to be careful when walking, and a spot that was shaded from the sun and surrounded by non-poisonous flowers-it was her personal favorite area to be around when she needed to relax. This was where the group rested their tired feet and cooled off, taking a much-needed break. All of a sudden, Amy groaned.

"What's wrong, Miss Amy?" Cream said anxiously.

"It's _really _hot out. I can't even imagine the trek back to the Typhoon!"

"Whoops…" Fauna looked embarrassed. "The winters are freezing here, but hot or cold, I forgot how hard it is on the first try. I know a shortcut?" she offered.

"You won't need to," Shadow said. Everyone turned to him curiously. Shadow then pulled the red Chaos Emerald out of his quills.

"Shadow! What have you got that for?" Silver asked. He would have loved to snatch it telekinetically, but his telekinesis had "switched off" about an hour ago.

"More importantly, why?" Sonic said, emphasizing on the "why".

Shadow held up the Chaos Emerald. "Because I anticipated this. Chaos Control!" There was a flash of light. Moments later, everyone was back in the Blue Typhoon's engine room. Shadow set the Chaos Emerald where it belonged and walked out of the room.

"Well," Sonic said at last, "Are we going to move?"

Tails nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Fauna," he said, turning to the vixen. "The tour was fun, and I know what to keep away from!"

"You're welcome," Fauna replied. "It was great being outside again."

Cream bounced around. "That was really fun!''

"Chao CHAO!"

And with that, everyone went to their respective places-inside the Blue Typhoon, of course.

* * *

**Anyone else find it more than a coincidence that I'm listening to Mephiles' Whisper and his boss music as I'm typing this at 10 in the night? XD Both are really creepy but awesome-no, EPIC.**

**But still, this was more of a filler chapter than anything else. Oh, and also, I'm going to my first year in MIDDLE SCHOOL! I'm sure it'll be fun, but for now, it'll mean less updates. Sorry…**


	10. Day Two: Wild Dog

**A/N: School. **_**I AIN'T SAYING ANYMORE!**_

* * *

Sonic closed his eyes briefly, and opened them again. He strained his ears against the uncomfortable quiet. A few things registered. Faint chatter in the distance. The soft whisper of energy-Chaos energy, to be exact. The sounds of his footsteps, fast and light. The slower, heavier footsteps of someone near him.

The blue hedgehog turned to the red echidna walking besides him. "Hey, Knux?"

Knuckles turned towards him irritably. Unlike Sonic, he had been rather enjoying the peace and quiet. "What."

"Do ya get the feeling that the odd one out won't be there?"

"That's ridiculous. Have you ever heard of an emerald, real or fake, moving around for no reason at all?"

"Yes. Yes I have."

Knuckles decided not to say anything and overtook Sonic, his steps going faster and faster until he reached his destination.

The engine room.

Yesterday, another emerald, a pale blue one identical to theirs, had just appeared in the engine room along with the seven others. Knuckles had found it that morning, just lying there when he had gone to check on the Master Emerald. At first he thought that someone had misplaced it, but when he found all the emeralds in their respective slots, he could only deduce that it was a fake. However, that didn't make sense because its energy signature was identical to a real Chaos Emerald's. Even Tails' top notch scanners couldn't tell the difference.

Knuckles walked up to where the supposedly fake emerald should have been. It wasn't there.

"That's strange…it should be here…" Knuckles ducked, looking around for the blue emerald and not finding it. He walked around the room, scrutinizing it, but he had no luck. At last, he walked up to the slot for the other sky blue Chaos Emerald. He picked it up gently, closing his eyes and feeling for any difference form the other emerald. It wasn't as accurate as he would have liked, but as far as he could tell, there were no differences in the energy signature.

"Hey, lemme see!" Knuckles stifled a groan. Sonic had finally caught up with him.

"For your information, this is the real emerald."

"According to what we know, that other one is, too." Sonic's voice had taken on a serious tone. Chaos Emeralds were not to be messed with. One little mistake could be all it took…to cause Chaos.

"Well, 'that other one' is _missing_." Knuckles turned around and glared at Sonic, like it was his fault the emerald was gone.

Sonic shrugged. "Don't get so worked up about it. We'll just ask if someone took it…"

"_Sonic_…"

"What? "

And it was with that conversation that Knuckles finally put down the Chaos Emerald and walked out of the room, making a sharp turn towards the control room, where everyone was gathered, talking. He turned an accusing eye towards Rouge, who was talking to Shadow. If anyone had stolen it, Rouge had. She was the _queen_ of jewel thefts.

Knuckles silently walked closer, listening to what she was saying.

"…if they don't want it, I'll take it! It's almost as pretty as a Chaos Emerald, so it isn't like it's a fake or anything…"

"No," Shadow replied, annoyed. "That "fake" could be dangerous, and you know it."

"He's right," Knuckles said, walking up to them. Rouge shot him an interested glance. However, she never had the chance to say anything, because Knuckles beat her to it.

"However, your question only raises my suspicions that you took it."

Rouge gave him an incredulous glance. "…"

" I have every reason to believe you took it. I don't trust you, and I never _have_. You like gems too much for your own good. And…" Knuckles paused for dramatic effect, narrowing his eyes dangerously at Rouge. "And the emerald is missing."

"You don't really think I took that fake, do you?" Great. Rouge was trying to charm him into thinking her innocent. He would not let that work on him!

"I heard you telling Shadow about how 'It's almost as pretty as a Chaos Emerald, so it isn't like it's a fake or anything.' If he'd said 'yes', you could have used as an excuse, as in if someone found it, you could say Shadow gave it to you."

"Not true!"

"Break it up, guys." Sonic had arrived on the scene, and just in time too. If he'd come one second later, he would have found Knuckles and Rouge in the middle of a fight. "Amy and Cream baked a cake, and they'd be offended if we didn't try it." He cast a meaningful glance at Shadow. He was grumpy and reserved, but he did have something of a sweet tooth…

Ten minutes later, their mouths full of chocolate cake, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Silver were talking about how neat the forest was, but how it was too bad that the navigational system was broken _and_ jammed which made it almost impossible to fix, which meant they were stuck there.

"Boy," Sonic said, taking a bite out of the cake, "Amy and Cream know how to bake, that's for sure!"

Tails and Knuckles nodded, but Silver looked uneasy, biting the teeth of his fork.

"Don't do that," Tails told him, out of loyalty towards Cream(she really cared about the utensils, for some reason). "You'll break the fork with your fangs." He paused for a second, before adding," Why are you doing that, anyway?"

Silver's gaze shifted from one person to another; it was obvious he was nervous about something. "C-Cream, Fauna, and Amy are missing. Blaze went out to…l-look for them." He gulped.

"They just vanished liked that. Sure. And their ghosts baked the cake, didn't they?" Knuckles muttered sarcastically.

"Stop it!" Tails said, shooting Knuckles a 'be quiet' look. Turning to Silver, he asked, "When did you notice their absence?"

"Just like you, Tails, to use grown up words," Sonic said, shaking his head and smiling, but he was ignored.

Silver was trembling now. " I didn't. Blaze did. Do you remember about five minutes ago, Blaze walked up to us and whispered something to me? That was her telling me they were gone…she went out to l-look for them." Silver looked down, a tear threatening to slide down his cheek as he remembered the part he had left unspoken.

_Silver's eyes widened. "Missing? I'll come with you. You can't go by yourself."_

_Blaze looked away. "Silver, I'm sorry…you lost your telekinesis…You…you should stay here…"_

_Silver took a step back, deeply hurt. How dare Blaze bring that up!? That fierce pain, the pain of knowing his telekinesis would never come back, started to come over him again. And…and a different pain, that Blaze would ever _say_ something like that-he knew she was just trying to protect him, but it still hurt._

"_Hey? You OK?" Silver looked back and noticed Sonic giving him a worried look._

"_Yes, fine." Silver watched as Blaze walked out the Typhoon's door and set out to find her friends. He took a small bite out of his cake. At that moment, however, dust would have tasted better. _

"Silver? Silver…helllooooo? _Silver!_" Sonic yelled the word in his ears, which was very unnecessary. Silver cringed at the harsh noise and looked at Sonic. "What?"

"There you are," Sonic said with subtle teasing in his voice. "For a second, I wondered where you were."

Silver smiled. "No. On the contrary, I was wondering where _you_ were. Kind of hard to see people that weren't involved in past events." He walked off, chuckling, as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles gawked at him.

In his room, Silver chuckled. The look on his friends' faces had been priceless. His temporary light-heartedness had left him feeling happy. But as his mind drifted, he vaguely thought of Blaze. That one thought was enough to make him remember that conversation. Blaze's words echoed in his ears and his head.

"_Silver, I'm sorry…you lost your telekinesis…You…you should stay here…" _… _"Silver, I'm sorry…you lost your telekinesis…You…you should stay here…" _…

Silver hugged his knees, and this time, he let his tears flow.

She ran, ran for all it was worth. She looked behind her at her friends, a blur of pink and golden yellow. She looked at their pursuer, a ghostly white dog-like creature with red eyes and huge fangs. Fresh terror coursed through her at the sight of its fangs, and she forced her small legs to go on, her best friend flying at her side. She forced herself onwards, but her fear tired her. The trees seemed to spin around her. _No…Must…Keep…Going…Typhoon's that way.._ Her left boot slipped off, and she tripped on a tree root. She squeaked with terror, grabbing her boot and running on, not caring that the twigs and hard ground were slicing the sole of her delicate foot. She bumped into a tree, and collapsed; her eyes widened as she locked gazes with the red-eyed wild dog she had been running from. She squeaked and tried to get up, but the wild dog pinned her down with one paw. It was obviously enjoying the terror of his victim. As she struggled and kicked to get free, it snarled and bit her- right in the arm.

She screamed, and it echoed throughout the forest. The wild dog clawed and bit her over and over again, relishing the taste of her blood. Her friends screamed for her to fight, driving her to attempt escape, though she knew it was impossible. She screamed again; the last thing she saw before passing out was a purple cat bursting out of the bushes, a horrified expression on her face and a blue-and-yellow chao by her side…

Sonic was, well, feeling just a little dull. Not really. Silver had walked off laughing a long time ago, and Tails and Knuckles were getting riled up about how 'Cream is _not_ a _pipsqueak_!" In other words, he was bored to death, just standing there with the aftertaste of that delicious cake in his mouth (well, forcing himself to restrain from the last slice did keep him a bit busy…). So of course, the last thing he expected was Blaze, Amy, and Fauna to burst through the door, Blaze carrying Cream in her arms. Sonic eyed Cream disbelievingly, beside him, Tails gasped and rushed up to them. Sonic ran to Silver's room and called out. "Yo, Silv!"

Silver's head popped out of the door. "What?"

"Blaze found them! And they don't look so good…"

Sonic didn't need to elaborate on who 'they' was, because Silver was already running out the door, nearly knocking Sonic over. With a shrug, Sonic caught up to him.

Everyone was staring at the four girls. Amy, Cream, and Fauna looked horrible. They had little cuts and scratches all over them, even though they weren't bleeding much, and a few rips in their clothing. They were panting and sweating, as if they'd been running from something. Knuckles' eyes widened as he took in Cream, who was the worst of all. She was in Blaze's arms, unconscious and bleeding badly, with claw and bite marks all over. Her bright red dress was shredded at the edges, blending in with all the blood oozing out of her wounds. Cheese was bleeding from a scratch on his little orb, and anxiously poking Cream while 'chao'ing.

"Chao chao, _chhaaooooo_…"

"Whoa…" Rouge had arrived, and was now staring at Cream with uneasiness. "What happened to you?"

Amy and Fauna looked towards Blaze. The fire cat began to talk.

"From what Amy told me, they encountered some sort of white wild dog with red eyes that was hungry and a little mean, and it started to chase them. It pinned down Cream and nearly killed her. It was luck that Cheese flew off and found me. I had to fight off the creature for them, and find our way here."

"It took a really long time to do that," Amy panted. "It was _mean_… we kept running and running…it wouldn't give up…it nearly killed Cream! It was really scary, and we couldn't do anything…." Amy turned to Blaze. "Without you, Cream would have died…and we could have too..." Amy looked away briefly, and then looked at Cheese. "Cheese, thank you as well. You're the one who brought Blaze to us."

Cheese flitted around happily, with a few 'Chao' 's. He seemed to be saying, "Don't mention it!"

"I'm getting Cream to the medical room," Amy said. "Come on Fauna, you and I both need a look at."

After everyone had been treated (no need to mention the gory details), Blaze went to talk (ahem, apologize) to Silver. She was forgiven easily enough.

Amy got talked to by Sonic. "What were you thinking?"

Amy's eyes shone guiltily. "I wasn't thinking anything, really. I saw them leave without telling anyone, so I followed them. I didn't want them to get hurt… I tried to fight the wild dog, I really did. But its fangs were so big, and it was so fast…"

Sonic sighed, interrupting Amy. "I've heard enough. You shoulda told us. You just followed them, so all three of you got hurt. And then Blaze had to follow you, and she got hurt too. Ya see what I'm sayin'?

Amy looked away and nodded.

Fauna was in her room, sitting on the bed, just quietly reflecting. She looked when she heard the door open, and saw Tails look around walking in.

"Are you okay?"

Fauna nodded.

Tails looked at her more closely. "I don't think so. Do you want to talk? After all," he added ruefully, "I can't talk to Cream, now, can I?"

Fauna considered it for a second, and then spoke. "It's my fault. I wanted to go outside, and I wanted to take Cream with me. It took some convincing, but she came. Now I wish she hadn't." Fauna looked at Tails almost guiltily. "Is she really okay?"

"Yes, she's fine," Tails replied. After a few minutes of silence, he asked, "Do you like your room?"

Fauna nodded again. The theme was green, which didn't make her feel quite as claustrophobic. It reminded her of trees.

"Well, in that case," Tails said, smiling, "I should go. Sonic will be waiting for me. Bye!"

"Bye," Fauna said quietly.

That evening, Cream woke up.

"W-Where am I-the wild dog!" she gasped. "Where is it? Where am I? Where are Miss Amy and Miss Fauna?"

"I'm right here," Amy said. "Fauna's in her room."

Cream relaxed, then tensed up as she remembered how awful it had felt, nearly being ripped to shreds. Those red eyes seemed to be watching her everywhere she looked.

Amy noticed this and frowned. "Are you alright, Cream?"

Cream sat up and shook her head to clear it. "Yes fine, Miss Amy, thank you."

"It's just 'Amy'," Amy chuckled. Casting a look at the clock in the medical room, she said, "Whoa, 8:57 already? You should sleep, Cream." As Cream struggled to get up, she added, "In here."

"Oh. Okay." Cream got back into the bed and pulled the white sheets over herself. "Good night, Amy."

"Good night, Cream." Amy turned off the lights and closed the door. Cream fell asleep in the soft blue light of the night lamp in the room, with her head on the white pillow, hugging Cheese with one arm, her sleep surprisingly peaceful.

* * *

**A/N: Well, we end on a rather peaceful note. If you couldn't already tell, this chapter, the one before, and the ones to come are merely what happens in 7 days (or a week, smart one.)**

…**That being said, please read and review!**

**-ABCSKW**


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